California's state Senate curbs a high-tech societal dilemma by making it illegal for employers to require ID chips implanted in their employees

Radio Frequency ID chip-maker VeriChip's slogan is "RFID for
people." The company grabbed headlines in October 2004 when it
gained FDA approval
for its subdermal RFID implant. The RFID chip measured in at 12 mm by 2.1 mm and
allowed implantees to be identified and tracked using broadcast radio identification.

The chips are marketed for everything from medical tracking and identification,
to security applications.

Last year, the Cincinnati based video-surveillance firm CityWatcher.com,
mandated
any employee that worked in its secure data center to get implanted with one of
VeriChip's implants. Two of its employees received the implants.

Also, last year, blog RFID Lowdown reported
that Hackensack University Medical Center, in Hackensack, New Jersey nominated
patients for a study on the usefulness of these implants. These potential
implantees suffer from chronic conditions like heart disease, epilepsy and
diabetes. Patients with these conditions will be placed a two-year program
that will test "personal health record modules" inserted just beneath
their skin.

Enormous controversy was generated by these moves, because the concept of
employer required implants, or the possibility of involuntary medical
implanting was seen by many as a dangerous high-tech invasion of privacy.
Also, concerns of the security of these devices’s information were also raised,
as RFID chips have been publically compromised.

In response to these concerns the state of Wisconsin recently passed a bill
that banned anyone, including the employers and the government, from implanting
RFID chips in anyone without consent.

The LA Times reports
that the California State Senate has passed a bill that goes one step farther,
by banning employers from requiring employees to receive implants. Nine
senators voted against the bill, including Bob Margett (R-Arcadia), who is
quoted by the Times as saying it was premature to regulate technology
that has not yet proved to be a problem.

"It sounded like it was a solution looking for a problem, it didn't seem
like it was necessary," Margett is quoted as saying.

An observation on both bills is that neither explicitly bans employers from
asking their employees to voluntarily get implants. Neither bill bans
employers from rewarding employees who get voluntarily implanted.

"We are going to continue to work with them to make sure they understand the reality of the Internet. A lot of these people don't have Ph.Ds, and they don't have a degree in computer science." -- RIM co-CEO Michael Lazaridis